Well this is the start of my humble little story following Hawke
Thanks for reading this is my first fic so any constrictive criticism would be appreciated
UPDATE: fixed this chapter
Newcomers this chapter had some grammar issues but I've gone back and fixed them

Rise of a Champion

Night, Ferelden
During the Fall of Ostagar

Just after the battle of Ostagar where Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir betrayed King Cailan, abandoning him and the Grey Wardens during their time of need. Leaving both King Cailan's forces along with the Grey Wardens to their deaths at the hands of the Darkspawn horde. Only stragglers remain... among these stragglers are two brothers and their trusty hound Kane fleeing Ostagar.

They were nearly out of breathe having been running through the night for hours, even as they ran they were still being chased by a few Darkspawn, the bloodthirsty vile monsters that he'd plagued all of Thedas for centuries beyond counting.

Escaping Ostagar alive was feat in and of itself, the place slowly becoming a deathtrap as the remnants of the Third Company under Captain Varel were forced to desert their King or join his Corpse at the grounds of Ostagar. As the survivors of the Third Company fled Ostagar others had fallen in with them and together unintentionally formed a group of runaways.

Garrett Hawke had noticed that the unintentional group hadn't any idea where they were going and were simply running with Darkspawn stragglers chasing them. In the first few moments of running with the group Garrett Hawke had decided that if they were to survive, the group needed to stick together and head to the same general place, he had yelled for the entire group to hear, "there's a Village not too far from here! It's called Lothering! Just head North!"

The group of runaways listened to Garrett Hawke's words and headed North, they may not have been led by him but his voice was the only one of reason when there seemed to be nothing but chaos and the death of Comrades.

Even as they had ran Garrett noticed his commander, Captain Varel speared through his leg then get overwhelmed by nearly six Darkspawn as they fell upon the poor man with a unnatural fury.

There's... there's... nothing I can do... he's gone Garrett had thought in despair as he ran with the others to escape the massacre that had once been a Battlefield their King had sworn would be a great victory.

Now as Garrett Hawke ran he glanced behind him towards his younger brother of eighteen, Carver Hawke, and to his horror noticed that Carver suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to face some of the Darkspawn chasing them.

"Carver keep moving! This is no time for vengeance." Garrett Hawke yelled to his younger brother as they ran as fast as they could. Carver Hawke, younger brother to Garrett Hawke, stood his ground against four Darkspawn Hurlocks.

"You'll pay for what you did to King Cailan you soulless bastards!" Carver shouted with a wild fury as he charged Greatsword held high. Carver slashed and stabbed putting his weight into his attacks, one Hurlock fell but the other three Hurlock fought on just as hard with even more behind them preparing to overrun Carver.

Carver was having trouble just fighting the first three of them at the same time, though the Hawke brothers were experienced Swordsmen, they were both exhausted from hours of fighting and running.

This had been an ongoing pattern ever since they had started running with the Darkspawn chasing them; after a while the group would quickly turn around and take down some Darkspawn before running again.

There really was no pattern to it, and not all the runaways in the group would turn around and fight, some just kept running while the others tried to lower the number of Darkspawn chasing them.

Turning around and rushing forward with a huge lunge Garrett Hawke attacked one of the Hurlock troubling Carver as a couple of the runaway turned around to help fight the Darkspawn. Slamming his Shield into the first Hurlock causing it fall to the ground, then slashing it's neck open with his Longsword Garrett killed one of the Hurlock while the other runaways went to fight the Darkspawn behind where Carver was fighting.

"Kane!" Garrett yelled, instantly Kane, the Hawke family's Mabari War Dog, charged a Hurlock tackling it to the ground and clawing it's neck till a dark fluid started oozing from it. As Kane killed that Hurlock, Garrett rushed over to his younger brother's aid. Carver had blocked a slash with his Greatsword when Garrett reached him and slammed his Shield into the Hurlock causing it to stumble back.

Garrett covered his younger brother, blocking a crazed slash on his left from another Darkspawn, allowing Carver to stab the Hurlock he had been fighting earlier killing it. Garrett moved quickly and stabbed the Darkspawn that had tired attack Carver on his left, killing it.

Noticing they were still a couple of Darkspawn there still fighting Garrett take a deep breathe moving to stand back to back with his younger brother. The next few minutes were just a rush of pure adrenaline as the Hawke brothers stood their ground

The other survivors from the Third Company did same against the last of Darkspawn chasing them. It all appeared to flash by Garrett in an instant as he ran on instinct and experience fighting on back to back with Carver.

Garrett, the more skilled of the Hawke brothers, used his Shield to cover himself and Carver while using it as a weapon alongside his Longsword. Slitting a Darkspawn's throat, slamming his Shield into another and stabbing it in the chest. Garrett moved on from opponent to opponent alongside his brother knowing that if they stopped for even a moment he and his brother would die.

Then it was over as fast as it had started and the group slowed down somewhat, realizing they'd killed all the Darkspawn that were chasing them but kept moving, knowing that more Darkspawn were still out there and might catch up to them.

Panting, the Hawke brothers stood beside each other, covered in sweat, dirt, light wounds, and the blood of the fallen, and exchanged a look before staring at the strange dark blood flowing from the Darkspawn corpses.

Garrett put his hand on Carver's shoulder calmly saying "Carver I know how much being King Cailan's Army meant to you... but you can't go charging off like that by yourself."

Switching to a sterner tone Garrett said "you need to wait for me and the others, you can't the take Darkspawn by yourself Carver... no one can. Power in numbers remember what Captain Varel said."

Shrugging off his older brother's hand and walking away Carver coldly said "I don't need your protected; I can take care of myself brother." Patting Kane on his head Garrett sighed saying "I know you can Carver-"

"But" Carver said knowing he was in for another of his brother's lectures. Garrett gave his brother a serious look saying "but we need to keep up with the other survivors and get back to Lothering. Mother and Bethany need us."

That sobered Carver up and he grudgingly faced his brother saying "I know Garrett... I won't doing it again alright." Garrett nodded as Carver awkwardly nodded back.

Garrett remembered how proud Carver had been when he joined the Army, remembered Carver getting his Tattoo of a Mabari War Dog, remembered how Carver looked on to Cailan's body below the bridge they were stationed on.

Back at Ostagar Garrett and Carver had watched in horror as Loghain abandoned Cailan and the Grey Wardens to the Darkspawn. Together they had seen King Cailan get killed by an Ogre, Caver had yelled "noooooooooo!" along with countless others soldiers at the shock of their King's death.

Carver had tried to rush down the bridge and avenge King Cailan. But before Carver could get even half way down Garrett had ran over, grabbed him and struggled to hold him back.

"What are you doing! Let me go!" Carver had yelled in anger as he struggled to break free of his older brother's grasp to no avail. Garrett held on to Carver and turned his younger brother around to face him yelling "Cailan is already dead! You can't save him... all you can do is die with him!"

Carver had stopped resisting at that but kept his head down saying "Garrett, he was our King... we have to do something, we need avenge him."

Knowing that Carver wanted to keep fighting Garrett grabbed him roughly by the Shoulders and looked his brother straight in the eye yelling "Look around Carver! The line is broken! Loghain's leaving with his forces! The Darkspawn will keep charging! There's no end to this! We stay here we'll die."

Breathing heavily as Carver took in his older brother's words in grim absolution Garrett calmly said "Carver... we'll live to fight another day we need to protect our family." Carver nodded slowly looking at the floor knowing what his older brother had said was true.

After a moment of shared grim understanding, the Hawke brothers watched as a Grey Warden with a dark beard killed the Ogre that had slain Cailan, but they could do nothing to help the Warden and so moved on in grim defeat.

Together with Kane the Hawke brothers managed to fight their way off the bridge and into the wilds along with a couple of other Third Company survivors and form their group of runaways. Staying close to the road the survivors had started to make their way back to Lothering like Garrett had suggested, with some Darkspawn still following them.

Now Garrett, Carver, Kane along with the group of runaways were almost at Lothering. Hefting his Greatsword onto his back Carver started to move ahead, Garrett sighed and started walking as well to keep up with the others.

Carver hadn't always been broody like this, when he was much younger he and Garrett got along just fine and often played together but then Carver got older and things changed...

Carver had always tried to prove himself, but as time passed Carver realized that it was unlikely that he'd ever be someone due to all the moving his family did. It made Carver bitter at times, and he was always a little resentfully of their sister, Bethany, for it.

Bethany was Carver's twin sister and Garrett's little sister, though Bethany was very close with Garrett she wasn't too close with Carver. Bethany never got along well with Carver since he always had that resentment of her being the reason the family moved so much.

For Bethany was an Apostate, a Mage not submitted to the Circle of Magi, whom if found would be either killed by the Templars of the Chantry or forced into the Circle of Magi to live locked away for the rest of her days.

It had been a miracle that only one of the three Hawke children had been born with Magic, Garrett's father Malcolm Hawke was also an Apostate, and an extremely powerful one at that. While Garrett's mother, Leandra Amell, was not a Mage herself, but came from a family that had Magic in its Linage.

Though Bethany would never admit it, she sometimes felt guilty that the family was constantly moving from place to place to protect and hide her from the Templars.

Carver on the other hand, would never openly admit his resentfulness of Bethany causing them to move constantly but both Garrett and Bethany knew he was resentful all the same. Carver always wanted to prove himself as a Swordsman but never got the chance because of the constant moving.

Carver's relationship with Garrett was a little strained because Garrett, being the eldest, was always "in charge" as Carver so bitterly called it. Garrett had once tried to let Carver have a turn 'being in charge' but Carver felt that Garrett was taking pity on him and said "don't pretend I'm in charge brother... we'll always know you are."

Ever since Carver reached his teen years he wanted to be better and different than his older brother, so when they signed up to join the King Cailan's Army together Carver chose both handed weapons like Greatswords and Battle Axes.

Both of the Hawke brothers had already learned to fight from training with their Father, though neither of them learned to use both handed weapons but Carver was determined to be different than his brother.

While Carver had chosen to use both handed weapons in the Ferelden Army, Garrett had chosen Sword and Shield as that was how he had been trained with their father. The Hawke brothers had actually sparred a few times throughout the years growing up, and it infuriated Carver to no end that he couldn't beat Garrett no matter how hard he tried.

Garrett feeling bad for his brother, had actually let him win once about a year ago, but Carver saw right through it and grew angry at him, yelling at him for thinking he was weak and to never hold back just because they were brothers.

I only wanted to cheer you up... you're already very skilled, does it matter whether or not you can beat me Garrett had thought after that incident as he had watched Carver storm off.

Back in the present, Garrett knelt to helped a wounded soldier from the Third Company get up, saying "come on you need to keep up with the others" as they began walking once again.

The group, Garrett and Carver had run from Ostagar with what had started with roughly fifty, now more than half way to Lothering the group was down to twenty eight.

Sadly there would more survivors if we had stopped to carry those too wounded to walk on their own and others that... were simply left behind... like Captain Varel, but that would have slowed all of us down and we might not have even made it this far Garrett thought darkly.

Mostly the group consisted of Garret, Carver, Kane, about eighteen fellow soldiers from the Third Company, and seven Ashes warriors with their Mabari War Hounds.

I've... we... have done some bad things to escape, leaving people when we could have helped them... we... we deserted the Ferelden Army but time to move on. If we stayed we'd be dead now Garrett thought glumly as he, Carver, Kane, with the other survivors walked on a bit near the road.

Catching up to his younger brother Garrett walked beside him taking point for the group as they headed for Lothering. "We should reach Lothering soon" Garrett said still walking beside his younger brother. "Yeah but what do we do once we get there?" Carver asked not looking at his brother.

Garrett glanced at Carver saying "one bridge at time brother, I'm glad we made this far..."

Later,
Road to Lothering

It was a great relief now that no more Darkspawn had caught up to them. The Sun had just barely risen by the time they reached Lothering and it was evident that some other survivors from Ostagar and arrived before them.

And that the people of Lothering knew the Darkspawn Horde was moving towards them. As he walked up the road entrance to Lothering, Garrett noticed that it was blocked by petty thieves with stolen armor, pretending to be 'toll collectors'.

We have better equipment and outnumber them, if they know what's good for them they'll leave us alone Garrett thought as he and the others warily walked towards them. The so called 'toll collectors' calmly moved out of their way when they saw Garret and Carver's blue Ferelden Field Armor, the eighteen soldiers, and the seven Ash warriors.

What's going on here though? The Bann's men should be protecting the town Garrett thought as he and Carver made their way into town followed by Kane. The Hawke brothers stopped just at the outskirts of Lothering to rest, tired from all the hours of running and fighting, noticing refugees from elsewhere had set up a camp of sorts in the outskirts of the Village.

Lothering, the small village north of Ostagar with its simple wooden homes, local Chantry, and farm lands in the back. Lothering, the place where the Hawke family had been settled for three years now, the longest they stayed anywhere in nearly a decade.

Their father, Malcolm Hawke, had chosen it because of how unassuming it was and how the townspeople were friendly and gossiped but didn't pry too much. The rest of the group happily found a comfortable spot in the outskirts and rested for a bit before going onward to their own affairs in Lothering.

Some of the others survivors of the Third Company and the random people that had fallen into the group of runaways said their goodbyes while others said nothing going their own way.

It seemed to be an unspoken understanding between all the runaways, we survived but we're deserters... looks like we go our own ways now.

Garrett, having watched some of the other survivors going as Kane sat down beside him and sniffed his boots, turned to Carver clapping him on the shoulder saying "we made it home at least," his voice filled with relief. Carver nodded frowning as he too watched some of the survivors leaving.

Sensing that something was still wrong with his brother Garrett seriously said "hey, you alright?" "I'm fine... I can take care of myself-" Carver began but only to be interrupted by Garrett as he crossed his arms saying "I know you're tough Carver, you survived same as me."

Looking his brother straight in the eye Garrett sighed lightly then said "can we drop the tough guy act for five minutes..." Carver shifted uneasily then returned his brother's look in one of their rare moments of understanding as he said "I wish we could have done more at Ostagar. We just left..." Taking a deep breathe Carver continued "but I know you're right Mother and Bethany need us and we would have died if we stayed."

Garrett couldn't help but grin slightly and raise an eyebrow at that, look at that... my little brother agreeing with me. Carver scoffed, noticing Garrett's reaction, saying "look I see your point alright... I'm smart enough to know you see the bigger picture when I can't."

Garrett nodded speaking in a sad voice saying "Carver we had too, you saw what it was like there... Mother and Bethany don't need us dead too." Carver nodded understanding as he said "come on, I think we've rested long enough."

The Hawke brothers along with Kane began walking towards their home on the far side of town near the gate that led to the open field where the next road lay. Suddenly Garrett stopped Carver in his tracks, holding up his hand cautiously saying "wait... look there, a Templar." Kane picked up his face to look at the Hawke brothers and sniffed the air noticed the tense change in the Hawke brothers.

Sure enough a Templar wearing full Chantry Heavy Armor stood in front of the opened gate leading into Lothering. The Templar had his helmet on so the Hawke brothers couldn't see his face only the eyes barely visible through the visor as the man stood in front of the gate, not blocking it... just standing in front.

"What, you don't... you don't think... Bethany" Carver stammered uncertainly as he saw the Templar and almost placed a hand on his Greatsword but was stopped by Garrett grabbing his wrist.

Don't want to start a fight with a Templar... at least not right now Garrett thought as he looked at Carver and gave him a look that seemed to say what he was thinking. Carver returned the look seeming to say right... but what about Bethany? Though Carver scarcely admitted it, he did care deeply for his twin sister and would do anything to protect her, same as Garrett.

"No, mother would give the Templars hell if they tried to take Bethany away, and the Templars would show off like they usually do" Garrett said reassuringly to Carver as he let go of his younger brother's wrist.

"Yeah" replied Carver as he calmed down.

Together they watched the Templar talk to two armed men and a Chasind woman of some kind. One Elf wearing light armor on... with two Longswords sheathed on his back, a Blondish human with a Longsword and Shield sheathed, wearing Splintmail armor, and lastly the Chasind woman wore a dirk skirt, and a VERY loose top which covered very little.

Lastly another Mabari War Dog, expect this one had warpaint on him, and was a little more tannish than Kane. Probably more survivors like us Garrett thought as he watched them speak with the Templar.

After speaking with the Templar the strange group moved on to whatever affairs they had in Lothering. Waiting several minutes to be safe, Garrett and Carver started walking towards the Templar, whom was still standing in front of the actual entrance to Lothering.

Trying to act natural, they made for the entrance, when the Templar stopped them and said "you there. Just a friendly warning I gave to the other groups. You should leave Lothering if you can, the Darkspawn are on their way... though you two look like you've seen some trouble already."

The Templar noticed Garrett and Carver's Ferelden Armor as he looked at them, "yeah... we're survivors from Ostagar" "and we had a really hard time making it back here" Garrett and Carver said.

"So you arrived with those Ashes warriors I take it, as I said before, you should leave Lothering as soon as you can if possible. Some are trying to defend Lothering, but it's a lost cause" said the Templar in stoic acceptance.

"Yeah well-" Carver began to protest, but Garrett stopped him and intervened, "thanks for the advice but we have business here before we leave," then grabbed Carver and dragged him along. Garrett said goodbye to the Templar and moved on with Kane trailing behind them.

The Templar hardly paid any more attention to them as they moved to go and he stopped to warn more groups of travelers, Carver scoffed in annoyance breaking free of Garrett's grip and walking on his own.

"There's only a handful of Templars here, so as long as Bethany keeps a low profile, she'll be safe" Garrett told Carver quietly as they walked side by side through Lothering heading home.

"That's good to know" Carver replied still a bit annoyed at his brother for dragging him along like a child and brushed his sleeve where Garrett had grabbed it, as if it had been dirtied.

Walking towards their home the Hawke brothers noticed that a Qunari was in the cage outside of Lothering that the Bann had put up for prisoners. The Qunari seemed to be meditating or something, so they decided not to bother him and moved on as he sat in his Cage.

When the Hawke brothers made it to the front door of their medium sized humble home, the door suddenly banged opened.

"Oh! My boys are back!" cried Leandra Hawke as she rushed forward and grabbed Garrett and Carver in a bone crushing embrace, the embrace of a Mother fearing the death of her two sons.

"Ugh mom I'm fine" Carver said embarrassed from where he stood being crushed, "yeah... Mother, I can't breathe" Garrett managed to croak out as their Mother hugged them fiercely.

Leandra let go of them and nearly sobbed, "Refugees showed up here a few hours ago in the middle of the night and we heard what happened at Ostagar, I thought..."

"No mother, we're alright. But we need to leave Lothering, King Cailan is dead, the Army's done for and Ferelden might follow" Garrett began but was stopped when Bethany walked out the front door.

Spotting her two brothers Bethany smiled happily walking towards Garrett and hugged him warmly. "I told Mother you two would survive, it takes more than a few Darkspawn to take out my brothers" she said warmly embracing her older brother whom had become something of a cross between protective brother and father figure to her since their father had passed away years ago.

After hugging Garrett warmly, Bethany went to her twin brother and awkwardly hugged Carver, as Carver slowly and awkwardly hugged her back saying "yeah... we made it home Sis."

Carver's and Bethany's relationship was a bit strained but they still cared for each other. Leandra smiled at the reunion of her three children, "we can't just leave yet, we have to help the other townspeople" Bethany said as she stepped away from Carver.

"We'll try, but we really need to leave" Garrett said glad to be home as he put his hand on his mother's shoulder reassuringly having seen her wipe away some tears still trailing from her eyes.

"First things first, you two look like you're starving, come in and have some dinner" Leandra said getting over her tears as she forcefully grabbed both her sons and dragged them inside as they both protested but were dragged along regardless.

Bethany giggled at the comical sight of her two mighty brothers bested by their Mother, and followed them inside their humble Lothering home.

Maker I miss mother's bread Garrett thought having finished eating his mother's soup and moved on to her famous Hawke bread. Garrett remembered the poor excuse for bread at Ostagar, the Cooks being overwhelmed from the sheer number of hungry mouths to feed had rushed just to make sure everyone got fed.

The Cooks had managed feed everyone the basics like porridge along with sides of bread but the bread tasted like dirt. Lucky for the Hawke brothers, their mother, Leandra Hawke was known in Lothering for her amazing bread.

Garrett vastly enjoyed every bite as the family ate together on the breakfast table in the roomy but humble home. Even Carver, having been broody for the past few hours of running, couldn't help but smile as he too, enjoying their mother's bread.

"I hate to bring all of you back into danger, but with the Templars doing what they can to help the town, the bandits pretending to be toll collectors are still bothering travelers trying to flee" Leandra said frowning at her sons.

"Say no more, Carver and I will take care of this" Garrett called. "Yeah I suddenly got a feeling to hit something so I'm ready" Carver said eagerly. The two Hawke brothers having had experience dealing with bandits before due to all the moving the family did.

"I'm going as well, this is my home too I should help with what I can" Bethany said to everyone's surprise. "No!" cried Leandra "if the Templars spot you using Magic they'll take you away."

"Mother, the Templars are too busy to worry about Apostates, and as long as I don't use a big spell I should be fine" Bethany replied calmly as she looked at her brothers in turn.

Garrett hesitated then said "Mother, Carver and I will look out for her, and Bethany's smart, she knows what she's doing." Bethany grinned at her brothers. Garrett turned to his little sister saying "just keep your distance, don't cast anything offensive and let Carver and me deal with them."

"I don't suppose I can't stop any of you" Leandra said dryly, "don't worry mom, I'll be careful alright" Bethany replied calmly.

Bethany always knew how to ask Garrett for help without saying it, it was something they developed over the years, and being protected all the time by her family meant she didn't really go out much, as such she was always happy to tag along for anything she could.

Though it did bother Carver that his 'annoying sister' wanted to tag along nearly all the time as long as they didn't draw too much attention. Garrett personally didn't mind and understood that those times Bethany 'tagged along' were some the only times she went out. Bethany did have some friends in Lothering due having stayed here for three years but wasn't too close with them because she knew that one day they'd probably move again.

As all three of the Hawke siblings left the house to 'deal' with the 'toll collectors' Bethany rubbed against Garrett as they walked saying "thanks Garrett." Garrett replied "no problem, anything for my little sister" as he raised a hand lightly ruffling Bethany's hair.

Bethany smiled slightly as she fixed her hair just as Garrett and her saw Carver rolling his eyes at them. Chuckling Bethany called to Carver "what's a matter Carver, jealous... Garrett I think Carver wants a head rub too."

"Well I wouldn't want to deny lord brother his dearest wish" said Garrett sarcastically, Carver just shook his head and said "no! I don't want-," but he never got to finish as Bethany grabbed him and held him in place.

Garrett casually walked to Carver and ruffled his hair too. Laughing at Carver embarrassment, Bethany said "look Carver's blushing," "I'm not blushing, I was just frustrated, I... I..., I hate you all" Carver yelled, his face slightly red.

"What, you embarrassed?" Garrett said smirking slightly. "There are people watching! If they saw... " Carver said nervously, watching the people of Lothering and suddenly walking very quickly to meet the bandits.

I know that was a bit mean, but Carver is always picking on Bethany, it's about time she got to mess with him thought Garrett, as he and Bethany rushed chuckling to keep pace with Carver.

That's not the only thing bothering Carver... Ostagar. Both of us are going remember that for the rest of our lives. Best we can do is try to move on Garrett thought somberly as he walked beside Bethany.

"I... Garrett... are you okay" Bethany suddenly asked seeing the somber look on her older brother and that he'd almost fallen behind.

"I'm fine" Garrett answered putting on a fake smile as he patted Bethany reassuringly, taking point once again.

When they reached the 'toll collectors' road, they found the 'toll collectors' dead and their bodies being removed by a lone Templar. "Uh, Thanks for getting rid of the bandits" Garrett said as he and Carver stood in front shielding Bethany from view as she tried to look inconspicuous.

"What? No I didn't deal with this, it was one of the groups that came by here and helped. Nice of them to do that" the Templar said as he glanced up from his work clearing the area.

"Yes... that was nice of them" Garrett said calmly and casually as the three Hawke siblings went back into Lothering as the Templar went back to his work. They decided to check the local Tavern to hear some news while they were about the town anyway.

As they entered the Tavern and took seats in a nearby table Garrett noticed that a lot of townspeople had clustered up in Tavern for a drink. They understand what's coming for Lothering... Garrett thought as Carver got a cup of Ale for himself and Garrett from the bar saying "overpriced but worth it."

Carver surprisingly took a seat beside Garrett handing him a cup of Ale. "Thanks" Garrett said clamping his cup together with Carver's cup as they both took a simultaneous drink of some much needed Ale.

Bethany snapped towards Carver as the Hawke brothers lowered their cups back to the table saying "Carver... you're drinking!" Garrett and Carver exchanged an odd look then turned to Bethany, whom looked shocked at Carver.

Garrett was of age to drink but didn't drink much and never got anywhere near drunk though he was known to drink on special occasions or to relax after something stressful. Carver on the other hand was still underage to drink but old enough to join the Army and Bethany had never even seen Carver drink before now.

"... Something he picked up from the Army." Garrett said to the surprised Bethany.

Carver shrugged saying "in the Army they let anyone drink if they fought and it's not like I got drunk... too much." Garrett raised an eyebrow at his brother saying "much? I remember you getting drunk more than once and me having to carry you back to the Army tent so you wouldn't fall over."

"It wasn't that bad... it was pretty funny at the time, like when Captain Varel saw us and he laughed so hard he almost... he almost..." Carver said, having begun lightly but finishing on a darker note.

Together Garrett and Carver lowered their heads remembering Captain Varel and his death. Bethany frowned and spoke up saying "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring that up again... it must have been horrible."

Garrett pick up his head again saying "it was... but we came to hear some news so let's not dwell on it," then smiling slightly Garrett continued "besides me and the knucklehead over here made it home so it's not all bad."

Carver scoffed at that knucklehead part but surprisingly didn't arguing knowing that they were both lucky to have survived the Fall of Ostagar.

After a while of listening around the Lothering Tavern for news the Hawke siblings learned that the Bann was gone, commanded to Denerim by Loghain and that Loghain blamed the failure at Ostagar on the Grey Wardens.

Bethany didn't ask her brothers any questions about that last part but noticed how they each shook their heads in a 'no' about the Grey Wardens being the reason for the failure. Not wanting to bring up Ostagar again, Bethany took their reactions as a denial of Loghain's words as they stepped outside.

As the Hawke siblings left the Tavern they noticed that some farmers where arguing about something just outside the Tavern. "Hey, what's going on here" Garrett asked. "That group with that Chasind woman with the LOOSE top, they took a Chantry Sister and the Qunari, the one who killed those poor people, and they just left like nothing."

"She wasn't a Chantry Sister, she was affirmed, and that group helped set up traps, they're not all bad" the two farmers argued back and forth. "Anyway, we'll just leave you to it" Bethany said as she walked back home, Garrett and Carver following as the farmers continued arguing.

Arriving home they told Leandra about the group of travelers who help set up traps to defend Lothering and took out the bandits. "Well that was very kind of them, at least they helped, though I don't agree with them for taking that Qunari... he killed some people I knew" she replied.

"Mother I know this is our home but we can't say here. Carver and I saw the Darkspawn up close and no matter how well we defend Lothering we can't hope to hold it. Our only hope is to hurry up and leave while we can and get a head start" Garrett said seriously as Carver nodded firmly.

Leandra looked on sadly saying "I always forgot how smart you are Garrett, you get it from your father." There was a silence at the dinner table after that, all of the Hawke family missed the infamous Malcolm Hawke... he had passed away three years ago. Stroking his stubble on his chin Garrett Hawke sadly said "I have memories of him here too, but we can't stay here."

"When should we leave then? It has to be soon. We're really outnumbered... and Ostagar's still fresh for me" Carver said seriously if a little broodish. "If we can, we should leave tonight or at least by morning" Garrett said, silently thanking the Maker that Carver agreed with him for a second time in a single day.

Surprisingly Bethany called "What's wrong with the both of you! We have to help the townspeople leave Lothering and do something to slow the Darkspawn Horde down so people can escape safely!"

"Bethany you weren't at Ostagar, the things the Darkspawn did to the Army and King Cailan... the point is we had an Army and we lost. Lothering doesn't stand a chance... we can't save everyone I learned that the hard way" Carved replied slamming a hand to the table.

"We're not leaving without helping the other townspeople! Mother, Garrett what do you think?" Bethany asked sternly. "Alright we'll do what we can to put traps to slow the Darkspawn down, and help people move, but we need to be fast about it and leave early" Garrett said as Caver calmed down a bit.

"I don't like this brother" Carver said bitterly as looked slightly frustrated crossing his arms. It was nice having Carver get along with me while it lasted Garrett thought as he replied "well you hardly ever like anything I do. It's true that we can't help everyone but we need to help who can, I'd have thought you'd learned that the hard way at Ostagar."

Garrett sighed slightly realizing that he and his brother and taken different things from their shared experience at Ostagar. Carver just scowled at him, as Leandra smiled proudly as she saw her son taking the role of a benevolent leader, even without being a Mage his still his Father's son Leandra thought fondly.

Garrett stood up from the table saying "Well then its settled, let's start with helping set up traps, we have a lot of work ahead of us."

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